Experts reveal the main challenges facing increasing exports and securing hard currency

A group of industry experts confirmed at the “Future of Industrialization” session, on the sidelines of the Industrial Technology Fair held in parallel with the “Cairo ICT” 2022 exhibition, that there are a number of challenges still facing companies and factories in Egypt. market, emphasizing that the industry is the locomotive of development.In the country, and therefore there is a need to find quick solutions for the localization of the industry and the exploitation of its income in the development of Egypt’s export rates, with financing, training and qualification of workers.

Diagnosis of industrial disease is the first step in treatment

Parliamentarian Moataz Mahmoud said that the industrial sector has directly benefited from the support of the Egyptian state since 2013, after the attention paid by the political leadership to infrastructure development for 8 years, because the industrial sector did not receive any attention before that.

He called for the necessity of diagnosing the disease of the industry, with the aim of its development through several steps, primarily legislation, because the laws under which the Egyptian industry operates are “very old” and date back to 1930, pointing out that the Parliament is working to take quick and positive steps in in this regard, by issuing the Industry Consolidated law.

Masoud emphasized the need to move towards the modernization of the industrial map, setting export priorities, setting a target number of exports and striving to achieve it.

The spokesman emphasized the importance of cooperation with the state in land prices, energy financing and tax reduction, because they are the most prominent factors that influence the price increase of products, which raises their prices more than those of importers, calling for a solution to the dilemma of high production costs and its overcoming with innovative solutions.

He highlighted the passing of a law by the Parliament that gives preference to local products, pointing to the existence of specialized commissions, whether economic or industrial, that receive complaints and find a quick and appropriate solution.

Moataz Mahmoud believes that encouraging investment is one of the important mechanisms for achieving industrial development, explaining that incentives must take into account the competitive dimension of industrialization with competing countries, which offer the same product, taking into account the capabilities of countries.

Arts and Sports is a commercial platform for the marketing of Egyptian products

For his part, Osama al-Shahed, a member of the Council of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, confirmed that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has tasked the government to increase exports from 32 billion pounds to 100 billion pounds, imposing a state of activity on the industrial sector, either on the government’s or to the private party, explaining that the Egyptian industry is a capable locomotive. To increase exports and bring a hard currency.

He noted that Egypt is working to attract commercial companies to produce their products locally, especially since Egypt does not need a marketing component, which is a competitive advantage, given its central geographical location that supports the issue of cost reduction, production and transportation, which allows for easy shipping through several methods and fields.

El-Shahed pointed to the importance of Egypt’s soft powers, represented in the arts and sports that can be relied upon, and their adoption as a commercial platform to market Egyptian products, calling for the exploitation of tax exemptions with the European Union and COMESA to facilitate shipping to member countries, as another comparative advantage, because the Egyptian government supports 80% of goods Delivery to Africa.

He stressed that the Federation of Industry provides full studies for any orientation towards industrialization, and uses government support to reduce the cost of land, obtaining it through the usufruct method at a rate of 5% to 10%, calling on the government to support the industry after canceling the support initiative to the private sector with an interest rate of 8%.

Rehabilitation of the workforce and expansion of tax incentives

On the other hand, Abdul Rahman Omar, director of the technical office of the president (Ibda’) of the initiative, confirmed that the strategy of the initiative focuses on 3 axes. working technician.

He emphasized the importance of expanding tax incentives and export incentives, in a way to help manufacturers save on costs, and at the same time enable the state to achieve a negative financing equation, given that the financing challenge is the most difficult among the various needs of industries.

In the same context, Dr. Sherif El-Gabali, head of the Chamber of Chemical Industry, revealed the expectation that the chemical industry will occupy the top of the ranking of the most promising industries in Egypt, noting that they contribute significantly to exports. , especially with the availability of the necessary raw materials such as gas, phosphates and white sand, ranging from 60% to 70%, requiring laws that facilitate the continuous supply of raw materials.

He explained that white sand is used in the production of glass, while natural gas is mainly used in the petrochemical industry, which indicates that a large part of natural gas goes to energy purposes, up to 70%, while the average natural use is less than 50%.

Al-Gabali revealed that Egypt was one of the first countries in the world to be able to produce ammonia from water analysis through a German factory in the 1960s, noting that green ammonia costs three times more than regular ammonia.

He called for following the experience of the United States of America, which provides support and incentives to ammonia producers, stressing the need to take the lead in the industrial sector.

Hani Kassis, CEO of Mintra, emphasized the importance of industrial production that provides added value directly attributed to the national economy, emphasizing that parties in industrial production in Egypt exchange positive values ​​with each other, including the government, manufacturers, importers and other elements of the system Industrial sector in Egypt needs more development along with providing jobs.

He gave the example of Belgium, which has about 11 million inhabitants, and its industrial production is about 660 billion dollars, while the population of Egypt exceeds 100 million, while the industrial production of Egypt’s GDP does not exceed 40 billion dollars. dollars, while industrial investments, according to the Ministry of Industry, are two billion dollars.

For his part, Sherif Hammouda, chairman of the Board of Directors of GV Development, referred to the impact of the global economic situation and its consequences on Egypt, adding that it creates a new reality at the local level as a result of global and political events.

He emphasized the importance of developing the industrial map in the coming period, taking advantage of government and sovereign decisions to support the industry.

Hamouda referred to the dimensions of the Tarpon project, which is carried out in cooperation with the Food Safety Agency, pointing out that positive crisis management is the result of identifying requirements and mechanisms after discussions with a group of specialized chambers.

Alaa Saad, CEO of Aria, called for the need to support small and medium-sized companies, as they are the mainstay of the technological industrial system in Egypt.

He emphasized that the localization of industry takes place by developing production lines and keeping pace with the fourth industrial revolution, relying on mechanization processes, reducing the traditional tasks of workers, and replacing them with machines in order to speed up and increase production, especially from a large number of simple operations that depend on the worker leads to a higher price of the final product compared to its price. Outside.

The spokesman cited China, where most companies in the world prefer to manufacture in its countries, due to the availability of raw materials at the cheapest prices and the provision of industrial incentives by the government, along with a skilled workforce.

The event features the participation of more than 200 speakers and is accompanied by several specialized technology exhibitions and conferences namely PAFIX, DSS, SATCOM, INSURETECH, ManuTech, Startup Africa and Connecta. , Commercial International Bank CIB, Cisco, Microsoft, Fortinet, and Orange Egypt.